Rufina was as tall and thin as a reed. Elegant but with that distance that well-defined forms seem to impose. Her voice, however, was sweeter, closer, and when she spoke her name, like a slow whisper, one felt like what she had come to say could be read in her image. Rufina’s story can only be told through a detour because her origin does not coincide with her birth. Rufina was born on a Sunday afternoon while her father was drawing black letters on a white background, and her mother was trying to join those same letters to form words that could tell a story. But her origin goes much further back, and that is why she is pierced by a story that precedes her, even though it is not her own. Maybe her origin can be traced back to that autumn night in which that tall man with that distant demeanor ran into that woman with that sweet smile and elegant aspect. He looked at her in such a way that he was trapped by that gaze, even though they found no words to say to each other, and they stayed in silence. Somehow, some words leaked into that gaze because since that moment they were never apart again. Later, after they started talking, projects started coming up and then coexistence and arguments, routines and mismatches. But in that chaos of crossed words in their life together, something was stable through the silence of the gazes. In those gazes, the silent words sustained that indescribable love that they didn’t even try to understand. And in one of those silences, Rufina appeared, when that man told that woman that he needed a text to try out his new font, and she saw him look at her with that same fascination of the first time, and she started to write something with those forms that he was giving her as a gift. Rufina was as tall and thin as a reed, wrote her mother when Rufina was born. Photo (Fragilité): Karin Topolanski / Post: Raw (www.raw.com.uy) - María Pérez Gutiérrez

Elegant and round Having harboured a desire for a rounded font within the Fontsmith library for some time, Phil Garnham recognised that FS Emeric offered the perfect skeleton around which to design it. Most new rounded fonts rely on scripts or other in-app automation to form their characters. For all their warmth and approachability, they too often conjure images of jelly sweets and sausages. Not so FS Aldrin, where every curve and transition has been crafted by hand, giving a distinctive look and elegant feel. Design highlights FS Aldrin enjoys wide-open ‘lunar’ counters and soft, tube-like terminals. These improve legibility, especially on backlit signage and screens. The open proportions and circular strokes are juxtaposed against a more serious technical aspect that exists within each counter shape. The lighter weights feel precise and efficient, perfect for notes on blueprints or technical drawings. The heavy weights are equally crafted but more playful by their rotund nature, and are perfect for strong headlines or packaging projects. UI icons A suite of 268 icons complement the typeface beautifully and extend the design language in all directions. They cover a range of commonly used applications and themes ranging from ecommerce to weather, and also serve as a solid starting point for a bespoke brand icon set or UI. In addition, born of FS Aldrin’s astronomical theme and playful nature is a special collection of space-themed icons, including rockets, shuttles and lunar modules (hint: if you type the word BUZZ with ligatures enabled, an astronaut appears). Earth to Buzz Buzz Aldrin was the pilot of Apollo 11’s lunar module, the one that put man on The Moon for the very first time. Early on in the project’s life, FS Aldrin emerged as the ideal hook on which to hang the font’s space helmet (hardly surprising given Phil’s fascination with space travel and astronomy). An approach was made to Buzz’s management to see if he would sanction the association. Not only was the great man himself happy to see his name on a typeface, he also asked to use it in his upcoming keynote talks, book launches and online projects.

Deep Mind font is a special appearance display type. You can easily create text, frames, and seamless patterns embedded in illusory type optical patterns in a variety of layouts. In addition to repeating and intertwining lines, the unique optical effect is provided by the use of variable line widths. Deep Mind basically uses two line widths. The base style pattern appears with a thicker line thickness. The other style is the opposite. The characters embedded in the pattern are rendered as a secondary image using a thinner thickness, which is provided by the use of a variable line width. This gives it a modern and unique look. All characters are the same width and height for easy and simpler use. The glyphs connect perfectly on both sides, also below and above each other. This guarantees the continuity and smoothness of the pattern. The basic pattern can also be selected and used with the thinner line thickness for variability and completeness of the optical illusion (by typing "z"). There are also tiles that provide a smooth transition from thin to thick or from thick to thin line thickness. Of course, in all four directions. You can access these tiles by typing the characters: “lmno and p". The negative version provides additional opportunities for versatile use. Type the same letter several times and the pattern will repeat. Type in: “zzzzzz". You can create a frame using the closing elements as follows: Type in: “abcdefgh and ijk" The font has a separate option for placing your own logo, in square and circular forms. Type in: “rs and tuvw and xy" The font contains 119 glyphs, which include uppercase, numbers, punctuation, symbols, patterns, frames, closing elements, and tiles that provide a continuous transition between different line widths. Deep Mind font is ideal for any use that has an innovative and modernist purpose, adaptable to display decorations, running borders or repeating patterns. It can be used in larger sizes as display fonts, as headers, and for attention-grabbing use. Small sizes are ideal for use in Security Printers as microtext and background printing system.

Looking back on my production to date, neither so little nor so large, it does not come as a surprise to find myself now introducing Lady René. A brief review of my career would read as follows: graphic designer graduated from Buenos Aires University, a 10-year professorship in Typography in the same institution, an illustrator in the making. For almost 15 years now my work has focused on the design of editorial pieces, predominantly books and CD sleeves. Typography proper has always been central to my research projects. All my obsessions eventually embodied as much the search for a perfect, spotless text as for a daring and provoking one. In my view, "how-to-say-something" ranks highest amongst a graphic designer’s responsibilities. It was in this vein that I called in the written word to illustrate, to draw, to narrate. Why not reverse the saying and proclaim that “a word is worth a thousand images”? If so, one single word could trigger endless meanings, associations, ideas, and memories in every reader’s mind. Language, we know, has a strong power and is a living expression of a culture. In my illustrations, letters and drawings reunite in one synergy said and unsaid, the finiteness of the message and the freedom of the free reading. And this is how and when, Lady René, my first born type font sees the light of day conceived out of a love of illustration and a reverence for the written word, recalling the whimsicality of the handmade drawing and reflecting its sensitive, warmth and spontaneity. Enabled by the characteristics of Open Type and the hard, outstanding work of designer Ale Paul, Lady René succeeds in composing texts in a simple, organic way by means of its contextual and stylistic alternates, swash characters, ligatures and connecting words. A bundle of decorative miscellanea completes the set of signs, enabling the user considerable freedom to create new typographic landscapes. Lady René is then prepared, very much like a character in a short story, to come to life in the reader’s mind. I expect you will enjoy her as much as I did creating her. Laura Varsky

For everyone wishing for a modern serif that’s as clear and readable as a sans in restrictive digital environments, meet Portada by Veronika Burian and José Scaglione. Sans serifs are commonly used on small screens to save space and carry a modern tone. Serifs may appear fickle and unsteady, pixel grids change from one product to another, and space is at a premium. Portada now provides a serif option for these restrictive digital environments, putting that old trope to rest. The screen has met its serif match. Portada was created from and for the digital world — from e-ink or harsh grids to Retina capability — making it one of the few serifs of its kind. Portada’s text and titling styles were engineered for superlative performance, making great use of sturdy serifs, wide proportions, ample x-height, clear interior negative space, and its subservient personality. After all, words always take priority in text. It’s not all business, though. Portada’s italics contain an artefact of calligraphy in which the directionality of the instrokes and the returning curves of the outstrokes give the family a little unexpected brio. Yet even the terminals are stopped short of flourished self-absorption to retain their digital clarity. When printed these details are downright comforting. Portada’s titling styles enact slight changes while reducing the individual width of each character and keeping the internal space clear. Titling italics have increased expressiveness across a few characters rather than maxing out the personality in each individual glyph. Digital magazines, newspapers, your favourite novel, and all forms of continuous screen reading benefit from Portada’s features. This family can also cover many of the needs developers have: user interface, showing data intensive apps on screen, even one-word directives and dialogs. And, as a free download, an exhaustive set of dark and light icons is included to maintain Portada’s consistent presence, whether as a word or an image. The complete Portada family (eight text styles, ten titling styles, and one icon set) is designed for extensive, clear screen use — a rare serif on equal footing with a sans.

Many typefaces are distinctive or attractive at the expense of legibility and versatility. Not so the Optima® family. Simultaneously standing out and fitting in, there are few projects or imaging environments outside of its range. Although Optima is almost always grouped with sans serif typefaces, it should be considered a serifless roman. True to its Roman heritage, Optima has wide, full-bodied characters – especially in the capitals. Only the E, F and L deviate with narrow forms. Consistent with other Zapf designs, the cap S in Optima appears slightly top-heavy with a slight tilt to the right. The M is splayed, and the N, like a serif design, has light vertical strokes. The lowercase a and g in Optima are high-legibility two-storied designs. Optima can be set within a wide choice of line spacing values – from very tight to very open. In fact, there are few limits to the amount of white space that can be added between lines of text. Optima also benefits from a wide range of letter spacing capability. It can be set quite tight, or even slightly open – especially the capitals. If there are any guidelines, Optima should be set more open than tight. It’s not that readability is affected that much when Optima is set on the snug side; it’s just that the unhurried elegance and light gray typographic color created by the face are disrupted when letters are set too tight. Optima is also about as gregarious as a typeface can be. It mixes well with virtually any serif design and a surprisingly large number of sans serif faces. The Optima family is available in six weights, from roman to extra black, each with an italic counterpart. In addition, the family is available as a suite of OpenType® Pro fonts, providing for the automatic insertion of small caps, ligatures and alternate characters, in addition to offering an extended character set supporting most Central European and many Eastern European languages. When you’re ready to find its perfect pairing, browse these fantastic matches: Monotype Century Old Style™, Dante®, Frutiger® Serif, Joanna® Nova, Malabar™ and Soho®.

The general idea: Can You imagine to yourself, what the hydroelectric power station is? The building of this electricity production foundry is half hidden under the water, but the visible above-water part astonishes your sense. It is a construction almost 1,5 km length dammed out the powerful river stream. Besides thousand of electricity conduction lines supports it bears also the highway and the railroad. From a faraway distance the train seems like a caterpillar that has climbed up the stout tree. There are also the navigable sluices, the flood channels and other erections. The idea of this typeface outlines arrived to the authors exactly on the viewing platform, under the impression of the waterfalls, which are escaping from the dam womb, falling from almost 50 meters altitude and becoming white-haired during this flight. Release: in the form of "gorod.Volgograd" font with the one style. We work with other styles now and sometime we will be very glad to introduce the Bold and Italic styles to You. We should explain the font name meaning. "Gorod" is "city of" in Russian and Volgograd is the old, big and famous Russian city. The Volga hydroelectric power station of a name of XXII congress of the CPSU caused the Volgograd sea formation. It expands of 14 km width and more than 600 km along the Volga river-bed. But HEPS isn't the sole Volgograd sight. There are many interesting places here. The most known tourist sight, the visit card of Volgograd is the Mamaev Hill. Being here You can see almost all 100 kilometers of city length. Due to its geographical position, Mamaev Hill has got a great importance during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945). It became and still is the Main Height of Russia. Soviet people have built the huge stately memorial ensemble here. There are many other witnesses of the heroic past of Volgograd: the Alley of Heroes, the Perished Fighters Square, the Soldiers Field and others. The line of tank turrets is stretched out along all town not far from Volga bank. It marks the line, where fascist troops was stopped in 1943. It is very amazingly when You dive under the ground on a usual tram. Volgograders have built a few underground station for the high-speed tramway. The river tram need a quarter of an hour to get an island in the Volga. And You need the same time to walk across the river station. The Volga-Don navigable channel starts from Volgograd. There are planetarium, circus, some theatres, many museums in Volgograd. One of football matches of Euro-2004 qualifying round took a place in the "Rotor" stadium in Volgograd. Volgograd holds the longest - above 50 km - park in the world. Its avenues, squares, embankments are beautiful, Volgograd central districts are built in unique architecture style called the Stalin Empire. You can enjoy fountains, parks, attractions, water-pools and other Volgograd sights. If You visit Volgograd once You'll never forget it. You can read about the ancient history of Volgograd city on the Tsaritsyn font page. Also we plan to create the Stalingrad font and give You a short story about another period in Tsaritsyn-Stalingrad-Volgograd history.

Father's Day, or June 17 of this year, is in the middle of Argentinian winter. And like people do on wintery Sunday mornings, I was bundled up in bed with too many covers, pillows and comforters. Feeling good and not thinking about anything in particular, Father's Day was nowhere in the vicinity of my mind. My eleven year old son, Matías, came into the room with a handmade present for me. Up to this point, my Father's Day gift history was nothing unusual. Books, socks, hand-painted wooden spoons, the kind of thing any father would expect from his pre-teen son. So you can understand when I say I was bracing myself to fake excitement at my son's present. But this Father's Day was special. I didn't have to fake excitement. I was in fact excited beyond my own belief. Matí's handmade present was a complete alphabet drawn on an A4 paper. Grungy, childish, and sweeter than a ton of honey. He'd spent days making it, three-dimensioning the letters, wiggle-shadowing them. Incredible. A common annoyance for graphic designers is explaining to people, even those close to them, what they do for a living. You have to somehow make it understandable that you are a visual communicator, not an artist. Part of the problem is the fact that "graphic designer" and "visual communicator" are just not in the dictionary of standard professions out there. If you're a plumber, you can wrap all the duties of your job with 3.5 words: I'm a plumber. If you're a graphic designer, no wrapper, 3.5 or 300 words, will ever cover it. I've spent many hours throughout the years explaining to my own family and friends what I do for a living, but most of them still come back and ask what it is exactly that I do for dough. When you're a type designer, that problem magnifies itself considerably. When someone asks you what you do for a living, you start looking for the nearest exit, but none of the ones you can find is any good. All the one-line descriptions are vague, and every single one of them queues a long, one-sided conversation that usually ends with someone getting too drunk listening, or too tired of talking. Now imagine being a type designer, with a curious eleven year old son. The kid is curious as to why daddy keeps writing huge letters on the computer screen. Let's go play some ball, dad. As soon as I finish working, son. He looks over my shoulder and sees a big twirly H on the screen. To him it looks like a game, like I'm not working. And I have to explain it to him again. This Father's Day, my son gave me the one present that tells me he finally understands what I do for a living. Perhaps he is even comfortable with it, or curious enough about that he wants to try it out himself. Either way, it was the happiest Father's Day I've ever had, and I'm prouder of my son than of everything else I've done in my life. This is Matí's font. I hope you find it useful.

The Ysobel™ typeface family is not only elegant; it is also exceptionally legible and space economical. A collaborative design effort between Robin Nicholas, as lead designer and project director, Delve Withrington and Alice Savoie of Monotype Imaging, the project had the primary design goal of creating a typeface family for setting text in newspapers and periodicals. The result, however, is also ideal for any application that requires quick and easy assimilation of text. According to Nicholas, “The idea for the design started when I was asked to develop a custom version of Century Schoolbook. I wanted to give the design a more contemporary feel, although the client ultimately decided to keep their typeface closer to the original. The project nevertheless gave me ideas for a new design. Since designing Nimrod, some 30 years ago, I had wanted to make a more modern typeface family for newspapers and magazines – this seemed the ideal candidate.” Ysobel (pronounced “Isabel”) has the soft, inviting letter shapes of Century Schoolbook but contrasts these with more incised serifs and terminals. Its capitals are also narrower than those of Century Schoolbook, and care was taken to ensure that they harmonize perfectly with the lowercase. Ysobel’s x-height is full-bodied without disrupting lowercase proportions. In addition, curved terminals, such as those in the “C,” “c” and “e,” were drawn more open as an aid to legibility and readability in text copy. Weight stress is near vertical, and hairlines are robust to ensure character fidelity in small point sizes. Development began with the text version of the family, which has four weights, each with an italic companion. All weights feature lining and old style numerals, fractions, superiors and extended Latin language coverage. Small caps are also available in the Roman Regular design. Ysobel Display is a completely redrawn version of the typeface; it is narrower, and has a slightly smaller x-height, thinner hairlines and subtle design changes to improve its appearance when set at large sizes. The Display Italic received particular attention to make it ideal for setting headlines, subheads and short blocks of copy. Changes include a slightly greater italic angle and more cursive treatment of some letter shapes. Alternative styles of capital “J” and “Q,” to provide variation, are available in all weights.

ATTENTION COSTUMERS! A new version of this font was released in 2019. Take a look: Breathe Neue Reaching a total of more than 1000 glyphs, Breathe Pro is Maximiliano R. Sproviero’s gift of the year. The aim of the designer was once more to give the user the chance to play and travel from very formal and conservative letterforms to the amazing world of swashes and flourishes. Possibilities of alternating and ligating characters in this font are absolutely fantastic. After his last creation, Parfait Script, Lián wanted to make a more universal font. Delighted by typographic works of Didot and his followers of the beginnings of 1800, Maximiliano R. Sproviero started what became another obsessive project, which is now named Breathe, “cuando las letras respiran...” what could be translated as “when letters breathe”, due to the feeling that you are reading letters that are alive. Breathe comes in two styles which have a significant difference as regards to the quantity of glyphs available inside. If you want to get the most complete style, with over 1000 glyphs, (including contextual alternates, stylistic alternates, swashes, terminal forms, titling alternates, historical forms, stylistic sets, standard ligatures, stylistic ligatures, decorative ligatures and frames) then your choice should be Breathe Pro. On the other hand, if you are interested in having a less decorative font with the nice touch of Lián’s style, then your choice should be Breathe Standard, a more limited version of Breathe, including terminal forms (leaves) and frames. With Breathe Pro you will surely have fun at the same time you are designing and that is not an unimportant thing. The world of type-designers is growing each year, and the features of Open-Type are letting them think their creations as if they were truly pieces of art. At least, Breathe Pro is inspired in the Art of our predecessors, those who with a pen loaded of ink would decorate each letter, each page in such a lovely way. Yes, -lovely- is the word. We would not have the amazing lettering artists, calligraphers, typographers of nowadays if that -love for letters- had not traveled from generation to generation. Breathe Pro is an example of this love. An example of what Maximiliano R. Sproviero feels about typography and letters. Pssst... Look for more images and the User’s Guide at the gallery section to see it in use! http://origin.myfonts.com/s/aw/original/89/0/46067.pdf

Nulshock, the name itself invokes images of a bold, industrial design, with sleek, precise lines and curves that scream of the latest high-tech advancements. This typeface is not for the faint of heart, as it delivers your message with an unapologetic, explosive impact that will leave a lasting impression. Designed with the utmost attention to detail, Nulshock’s precise mechanical curves and accurate optical adjustments make it a natural fit for even the most demanding of high-tech environments. Its ultra-modern design and wide, industrial style set it apart from other fonts, making it the perfect choice for headlines, labels, indicators, logos, product names, and titles. And with a range of seven weights to choose from, you can fine-tune Nulshock’s visual impact to suit your specific needs. From the lightest weight for a more delicate touch, to the heaviest weight for maximum impact, Nulshock has you covered. But Nulshock isn’t just a pretty face—it’s also highly functional. With a wide range of symbols, including mathematical symbols, monetary symbols, fractions, and numeric ordinals, Nulshock is a versatile tool for any design project. In short, Nulshock is a font that demands attention, and it delivers on that demand with an ultra-modern, wide design that is optimized for high-tech environments. So if you’re looking to make a bold statement with your next design project, Nulshock is the typeface for you. Most Latin-based European writing systems are supported, including the following languages. Afaan Oromo, Afar, Afrikaans, Albanian, Alsatian, Aromanian, Aymara, Bashkir (Latin), Basque, Belarusian (Latin), Bemba, Bikol, Bosnian, Breton, Cape Verdean, Creole, Catalan, Cebuano, Chamorro, Chavacano, Chichewa, Crimean Tatar (Latin), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dawan, Dholuo, Dutch, English, Estonian, Faroese, Fijian, Filipino, Finnish, French, Frisian, Friulian, Gagauz (Latin), Galician, Ganda, Genoese, German, Greenlandic, Guadeloupean Creole, Haitian Creole, Hawaiian, Hiligaynon, Hungarian, Icelandic, Ilocano, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Jamaican, Kaqchikel, Karakalpak (Latin), Kashubian, Kikongo, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Kurdish (Latin), Latvian, Lithuanian, Lombard, Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, Maasai, Makhuwa, Malay, Maltese, Māori, Moldovan, Montenegrin, Ndebele, Neapolitan, Norwegian, Novial, Occitan, Ossetian (Latin), Papiamento, Piedmontese, Polish, Portuguese, Quechua, Rarotongan, Romanian, Romansh, Sami, Sango, Saramaccan, Sardinian, Scottish Gaelic, Serbian (Latin), Shona, Sicilian, Silesian, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Sorbian, Sotho, Spanish, Swahili, Swazi, Swedish, Tagalog, Tahitian, Tetum, Tongan, Tshiluba, Tsonga, Tswana, Tumbuka, Turkish, Turkmen (Latin), Tuvaluan, Uzbek (Latin), Venetian, Vepsian, Võro, Walloon, Waray-Waray, Wayuu, Welsh, Wolof, Xhosa, Yapese, Zapotec Zulu and Zuni.

The Joanna® Sans Nova family is the only typeface in the Eric Gill Series that was not initially designed by Gill. Created by Monotype Studio designer Terrance Weinzierl over a three-year period with digital applications at the forefront of the design criteria, Joanna Sans Nova is a humanist sans serif based primarily on Gill’s original Joanna. The design comprises 16 fonts, from thin to black, each with a complementary italic. Joanna Sans Nova has a larger x-height to ensure high levels of legibility – even on small digital screens. Due to its inherent humanist proportions, Joanna Sans Nova is surprisingly comfortable for longer form reading. Its low contrast in character stroke weights also improves imaging in a variety of environments. In addition, the calligraphic and fluid details enable the roman and italic designs to shine in headlines and other display uses. Joanna Sans features a robust range of OpenType features for fine typography, including small caps, old style figures, proportional figures, ligatures, superscript and subscript figures and support for fractions. With over 1000 glyphs per font, Joanna Sans supports more than 50 languages – in Latin, Greek and Cyrillic scripts. “I've always been a fan of Gill’s work, explains Weinzierl, and found the simple, humanist qualities of Joanna really fitting for a sans serif design. I wanted to make something with Gill flavor, but with more harmony in the extreme weights than Gill Sans – and with my twist on it. I went through six or seven different italic designs before landing on the current direction.” “The original Joanna had a very distinct italic, Weinzierl continues. “It’s very condensed, and has a very shallow angle. I wanted to have an italic that stood out, but in a different way. I took a cursive direction for the italic details, which are wider and slanted more, both improving character legibility.” The Joanna Sans Nova typeface family is part of the new Eric Gill series, drawing on Monotype’s heritage to remaster and expand and revitalize Eric Gill’s body of work, with more weights, more characters and more languages to meet a wide range of design requirements. The series also brings to life new elements inspired by some of Gill’s unreleased work, discovered in Monotype’s archive of original typeface drawings and materials of the last century.

Classic Grotesque by Rod McDonald: a traditional font with a modern face. The growing popularity of grotesque typefaces meant that many new sans serif analogues were published in the early 20th century. Setting machines were not compatible with each other but all foundries wanted to offer up-to-date fonts, and as a result numerous different typeface families appeared that seem almost identical at first glance and yet go their separate ways with regard to details. One of the first fonts created with automatic typesetting in mind was Monotype Grotesque®. Although this typeface that was designed and published by Frank Hinman Pierpont in 1926 has since been digitalised, it has never achieved the status of other grotesque fonts of this period. But Monotype Grotesque was always one of designer Rod McDonald’s favourites, and he was overjoyed when he finally got the go-ahead from Monotype in 2008 to update this “hidden treasure”. The design process lasted four years, with regular interruptions due to the need to complete projects for other clients. In retrospect, McDonald admits that he had no idea at the beginning of just how challenging and complex a task it would be to create Classic Grotesque™. It took him considerable time before he found the right approach. In his initial drafts, he tried to develop Monotype Grotesque only to find that the result was almost identical with Arial®, a typeface that is also derived in many respects from Monotype Grotesque. It was only when he went back a stage, and incorporated elements of Bauer Font’s Venus™ and Ideal Grotesk by the Julius Klinkhardt foundry into the design process, that he found the way forward. Both these typefaces had served as the original inspiration for Monotype Grotesque. The name says it all: Classic Grotesque has all the attributes of the early grotesque fonts of the 20th century: The slightly artificial nature gives the characters a formal appearance. There are very few and only minor variations in line width. The tittles of the ‘i’ and ‘j’, the umlaut diacritic and other diacritic marks are rectangular. Interestingly, it is among the uppercase letters that certain variations from the standard pattern can be found, and it is these that enliven the typeface. Hence the horizontal bars of the “E”, “F” and “L” have bevelled terminals. The chamfered terminal of the bow of the “J” has a particular flamboyance, while the slightly curved descender of the “Q” provides for additional dynamism. The character alternatives available through the OpenType option provide the designer with a wealth of opportunities. These include a closed “a”, a double-counter “g” and an “e” in which the transverse bar deviates slightly from the horizontal. The seven different weights also extend the scope of uses of Classic Grotesque. These range from the delicate Light to the super thick Extrabold. There are genuine italic versions of each weight; these are not only slightly narrower than their counterparts, but also have variant shapes. The “a” is closed, the “f” has a semi-descender while the “e” is rounded. Its neutral appearance and excellent features mean that Classic Grotesque is suitable for use in nearly all imaginable applications. Even during the design phase, McDonald used his new font to set books and in promotional projects. However, he would be pleased to learn of possible applications that he himself has not yet considered. Classic Grotesque, which has its own individual character despite its neutral and restrained appearance, is the ideal partner for your print and web project.

Burgues Script is an ode to the late 19th century American calligrapher Louis Madarasz, whose legendary pen has inspired schools of penmanship for over 100 years. His talent has caused some people to call him “the most skillful penman the world has ever known.” I use the word ‘ode’ in a colloquially ambitious manner. If I was an actual poet, my words would be about things I desire but cannot attain, objects of utter beauty that make me wallow in humility, or people of enormous talent who look down at me from the clouds of genius. But I don’t write poems. My work consists of letters drawn to fit together, that become an element of someone’s visual poetry. I am the poet’s assistant, so to speak. Once in a while, the assistant persists on what the subject of the poem will be. And occasionally, the poet gives in to the persistence. I hope you, visual poet, find my persistence justified in this case. The two main sources for Burgues were the calligraphy examples shown in Zaner Bloser’s The Secret of the Skill of Madarasz: His Philosophy and Penmanship Masterpieces, and C. W. Jones’s Lessons in Advanced Engraver’s Script Penmanship by L. Madarasz. These two references were the cornerstone for the concept I was trying to work with. I did have to change many of the letters in order to be able to produce digital calligraphy that can flow flexibly and offered the user a variety of options, while maintaining its attractive appearance. To this end, many ligatures and swashes were made, as well as full flourished sets of letters for use at the beginnings or endings of words and sentences. All of this has been tied together with OpenType and tested thoroughly within today’s standard design and desktop publishing software. After working with digital scripts for so long, at one point I thought that Burgues Script would become a bit of a chore to complete. I also thought that, like with most other scripts, the process would regularize itself after a while and be reduced to a mechanical habit. Surprisingly, and fortunately for me, this did not happen. The past holds as many surprises as the future. Madarasz’s method of penmanship was fascinating and challenging to translate into the strict, mathematically oriented language of the computer. It seems that the extremely high contrast of the forms, coupled with the required flow and connectivity of such lettering, will always be hard work for any visual artist to produce, even with the aide of a powerful machine. I can only imagine what steady nerves and discipline Madarasz must have had to be able to produce fully flourished and sublimely connected words and sentences on a whim. When I think of Madarasz producing a flourished calligraphic logotype in a few seconds, and try to reconcile that with the timelines of my or my colleagues’ work in identity and packaging design, the mind reels. Such blinding talent from over a hundred years ago. Burgues is the Spanish word for Bourgeois. In the end, I hope Burgues Script will serve you well when a flourished word or sentence is required for a design project. One of the wonders of the computer age is the ability to visually conjure up the past, serving both the present and the future. With Burgues, you have a piece of “the most skillful penman the world has ever known,” at your service. Burgues received important awards such as a Certificate of Excellence TDC2 2008 and a Certificate of Excellence at the Bienal Tipos Latinos 2008.

Breviary - Display Typeface "UNIQUE serif modern font" likely refers to a typeface that combines elements of traditional serif design with contemporary and distinctive features. Serif fonts have small lines or strokes attached to the ends of characters, which can contribute to a more formal or traditional appearance. The term "modern" in this context typically implies a contemporary or updated style. Here's an explanation of the characteristics and significance of a UNIQUE serif modern font: -Serif Elements: Serifs are the small lines or strokes at the ends of characters, and they are a hallmark of traditional typography. In a UNIQUE serif modern font, these serif elements are likely to be present but may have a distinctive shape or style that sets them apart from more conventional serif fonts. -Contemporary Design: The "modern" aspect of the font suggests a contemporary or updated design. This may involve a departure from the more classical serif styles seen in traditional typefaces, incorporating modern design principles, cleaner lines, and a more minimalist aesthetic. -Distinctive Characters: A UNIQUE serif modern font is likely to feature characters with unique and individual design elements. This could include unconventional serifs, letter shapes, or other stylistic details that make the font stand out and contribute to its uniqueness. -Versatility: While serif fonts are often associated with formality and readability, a UNIQUE serif modern font may offer versatility suitable for a range of design applications. It could be used in both traditional and modern contexts, providing flexibility for various design projects. -Applicability to Branding: Fonts play a crucial role in branding, and a UNIQUE serif modern font could be an excellent choice for businesses or projects that want to convey a sense of tradition and reliability while maintaining a contemporary and innovative image. -Digital and Print Design: Modern serif fonts are often designed with both digital and print applications in mind. The clarity of the typeface, even at smaller sizes, and its aesthetic appeal make it suitable for a variety of design projects, from websites and apps to print materials like brochures and posters. -Attention to Detail: The uniqueness of the font may be reflected in the careful attention to detail in each character. This could include refined curves, balanced proportions, and other design elements that contribute to the overall visual appeal and readability of the font. -Available Features: Unique serif modern fonts may come with additional features, such as alternative characters, ligatures, or stylistic sets, allowing designers to customize the appearance of the text for specific design needs.

During planning for the new Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris at the beginning of the 1970s, it was determined that the airport's signage system had to include the clearest and most legible lettering possible. The development of all signage was put into the hands of Adrian Frutiger and his studio. The team carried out their task so effectively that a huge demand for their typeface soon arose from customers who wanted to employ it in other signage systems, and in printed materials as well. The Frutiger® typeface not only established new standards for signage, but also for a range of other areas in which a clear and legible design would be required, especially for small point sizes and bread-and-butter type. The typeface family that which emerged as a result of this demand was added into the Linotype library as "Frutiger" in 1977. Frutiger Next, created in 1999, is a further development of Frutiger, not necessarily a rethinking of the design itself. It was based on a new concept, the most obvious visual characteristics of which is the larger x-height, as well as a more pronounced ascender height and descender depth for lower case letters in relation to capitals. This new design created a balanced image and included considerably narrower letterspacing. Frutiger Next meets the demand for a space-saving, modern humanist sans. 2009's Neue Frutiger is a rethink of the 1977 Frutiger family, now revised and improved by Akira Kobayashi in close collaboration with Adrian Frutiger. Despite the various changes, this "New Frutiger" still fits perfectly with the original Frutiger family, and serves to harmoniously enhance the weights and styles already in existence. The perfect mix, guaranteed Neue Frutiger has the same character height as Frutiger. As a result of this, already existing Frutiger styles can be mixed with Neue Frutiger where necessary. Likewise, Neue Frutiger is perfect for use alongside Frutiger Serif. Newly added are the "Neue Frutiger 1450" weights. Especially for the requirements of the newly released German DIN 1450 norm we have built together with Adrian Frutiger specific weights of the Neue Frutiger. The lowercase l" is curved at the baseline to better differentiate between the cap "I", additionally the number "0" has a dot inside to better differentiate between the cap "O", and the number "1" is now a serifed 1. The font contains additionally the origin letterforms from the regular Neue Frutiger font which can be accessed through an Opentype feature."

Max Joseph Gradl designed Art Nouveau jewelry in Germany. At least some of his designs were produced by Theodor Fahrner of Pforzheim, Germany -- one of the leading manufacturers of fine art jewelry on the Continent from 1855 to 1979. I don't know if he designed for Fahrner exclusively, but every example I found was produced by that firm. I assume it was also the same M.J, who edited a book, Authentic Art Nouveau Stained Glass which was reissued by Dover and is still available. For an artist as accomplished as Gradl was, he is very tough to research. There just does not seem to have been much written about him. The jeweler is visible in most of his typeface designs. They exhibit a sculptural quality as if they were modeled in clay (or gold) rather than drawn on paper. His monograms, especially, reflect that quality. Those shown in plates 112 through 116 in Petzendorfer actually appear to have been designed specifically for fabricating in the form of gold or silver pendents. Of the initial letters that came out of Germany during this period, these by Gradl seem unusually open and lyrical. They seem to be dancing on the page, rather than sitting. Please note that Gradl designed only the decorated initials. All other characters supplied were extrapolated by HiH, including the accented initials. Orn.1 (unicode E004) is based on a jeweled gold clasp designed by Gradl (please check out Gallery Image on Myfonts.com). Also included are an art nouveau girl’s face, a swan and the face from Munch’s “Scream”, from scans of old printer’s ornaments. Gradl Initialen M represents a major extension of the original release, with the following changes: 1. Added glyphs for the 1250 Central Europe, the 1252 Turkish and the 1257 Baltic Code Pages. Added glyphs to complete standard 1252 Western Europe Code Page. Special glyphs relocated and assigned Unicode codepoints, some in Private Use area. Total of 341 glyphs. Both upper & lower case provided with appropriate accents. 2. 558 Kerning Pairs. 3. Added OpenType GSUB layout features: salt, dlig, ornm and kern. 4. Revised vertical metrics for improved cross-platform line spacing. 5. Refined various glyph outlines. 6. Alternative characters: 16 upper case letters (with gaps in surrounding decorations for accents above letter). 8. Four Ornaments: face1, face2, swan and orn1 (silhouette of Gradl clasp) The zip package includes two versions of the font at no extra charge. There is an OTF version which is in Open PS (Post Script Type 1) format and a TTF version which is in Open TT (True Type)format. Use whichever works best for your applications.